Mud and Stars
by Frog-Lizard
Summary: Lizard: "Two men look out from prison bars; one saw the mud, the other the stars." Sunstreaker and Sideswipe enjoy a moment in Earth's oh-so-glorious nature. Well...sort of. oneshot, G1.


_Lizard: Ah, this is based on the little rhyme below, something I read a little while ago and thought was really beautiful. So, of course, I had to go and destroy it! XD At first I was going to use Hound and Mirage, but then the twins started screaming at me to be written so....*evil grin* I destroyed their dignity! _

_**A note**: No slash will ever be found in my stories. If you interpret it as such, that's your choice and right, but it is not my intention._

_**Warnings:** Slight OOCness, muddy mechs, hyper Sideswipe._

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own TF or any related material. I only write about them for my own entertainment._

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_"Two men looked out from prison bars, one saw the mud, the other saw the stars." _

_-Frederick Langbridge_

"Pit slagging glitch!"

Sideswipe jumped at his brother's sudden exclamation and whipped around just in time to see the yellow Lamborghini go careening off the edge of a small almost-cliff. Now satisfied that they were not being attacked by Decepticons, the red mech quirked an optic ridge and cautiously made his way over to the side of the ditch, peering down at his brother. Sunstreaker, now transformed was sprawled out in the old irrigation ditch covered from helm to pedes in muck, dirty water, and soggy plantlife. Sideswipe snorted back a laugh. Apparently those recent rainstorms had turned it into a natural trap of sorts.

"Hey Sunny, havin' fun?"

The psychotic twin paused in his sloppy attempts at getting back up and turned a strut-freezing glower on his twin, "Slag off."

Sideswipe grinned and crouched to get a better view, "What happened, did you see water and have to check your reflection?"

"When I get out of here I'm coming after you."

The red twin feigned a hurt expression, even going so far as to grasp his spark as though it was hurting, "Why Sunny, you wound me! What have _I_ done to warrant such cruelty?"

Sunstreaker let out a feral snarl, "You _stopped_ _and transformed_ so fast I had to swerve not to hit you and scratch up my paintjob. But with the _cliff_ right there I _fell_. Can you process that?"

Sideswipe thought long and hard on that before getting an excited look, "Oh! So you're incompetent at driving?"

Admittedly, Sunstreaker's aim was pretty slagging good considering he was still stuck up to his knee joints in mud and the small log he chucked caught Sideswipe square in the chin. Either that or he had been aiming elsewhere, but Sideswipe was sincerely hoping not.

"Ow! Sunny!"

"Shut up and get me out of here!"

"Not until you say sorry!"

"SIDESWIPE!"

"Yes, how may I help you?"

The roar of anger from below brought a giddy grin to Sideswipe's face, "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

"Sideswipe," Sunstreaker's voice was deathly calm, "I am going to rip you limb from limb, very slowly, then through you into a trash compactor if you don't _get me the **slag** out of here!"_

"Yes master."

Sideswipe sat down on the edge of the ditch and stared dumbly down at his brother. This time he managed to dodge the projectile chucked at him and with a final snicker he stood back up, dug around in his subspace and pulled out a Cybertronian chain.

"I hope you know I probably don't have the right build for this…."

"Just do it already."

Sunstreaker sounded desperate, probably due to his ruined paintjob and Sideswipe shrugged, tossing the chain down to his trapped brother. Once he was sure Sunstreaker was secure, he yanked. Nothing happened, besides a yelp from the yellow twin.

"You okay?"

Sunstreaker growled, "Don't yank it, idiot, you nearly tore my arms out of their sockets."

"Oops."

"Yeah, thanks."

"I don't think it'll work any other way. Are you sure you need your arms?"

"Sideswipe…." The warning was clear as a bell.

So Sideswipe took a moment to decide what the best course of action from here would be. He came up with zilch. Unless he could reach Sunstreaker form the edge….

"Hey, if I lay down on the side, can you reach my hand?" he called down, leaning over the side again to see.

Sunstreaker looked uncertain, "I'm not sure if that's such a good idea, what if I pull you in?"

"Well I can radio for help…."

"No! I don't want anyone to see me like…like _this_!"

Sideswipe smirked, "Well then here we go."

Cautiously the red mech lay down on the ground, worming his way up to the edge, he peered down at his brother, who glowered back up at him, and waved. The yellow twin rolled his optics and held up a hand. Sideswipe obligingly reached for it. He was short at least three feet.

"Slag."

He frowned and scooted forward just a little…and was still too far away. So he squirmed a bit more….

"Sides, your going to fall in."

"Nah! I know exactly what I'm do-waaaah!"

_Crash!_

"Whoooo…" Sideswipe shook his helm and looked down underneath him, "Hey, Sunshine, thanks for breaking my fall!"

The frame under him started vibrating and finally with a bellow of rage erupted out of the mud and flung Sideswipe off. Sideswipe yelped and managed to stop himself from disappearing into the sucking mud. When he turned to snap at his brother, however, he found himself at a loss for words. So he stared, mouth hanging open, at the shocking sight of his brother's face covered by a good three inches thick of mud.

"I. Am. Going. To. _Deactivate_. You," Sunstreaker hissed.

A blob of mud fell off his face. Sideswipe watched it in fascination, then brought his optics back to his twin's face.

"You're…muddy."

Sunstreaker rolled his optics, "No slag."

With an equally filthy hand he tried to wipe the muck off his face, but only succeeded in smearing it even more. With a resigned thrum he settled back into what he guessed would be his slimy tomb. Sideswipe still looked completely fascinated at the sight of his brother actually _dirty_ for once.

"Stop staring slag head. We're stuck here."

Sideswipe jerked and looked down at his pedes…or where he thought they were. It was hard to tell with them being covered by Primus knows how much mud and all. He tilted his helm, considered this predicament, and flopped over backwards to… sort of lie down.

"I called home already," he assured, and his brother groaned, "Heh, look at that. Stars," he muttered, pointing as if his brother wouldn't be able to see them without direction.

Sunstreaker rolled his optics, "Yes, there are stars, how exciting."

Sideswipe narrowed his optics and tilted his helm, scrutinizing the little white dots. They were far away from any cities, or civilization period, and he could see the entire swooping curve of one of this galaxy's outer arms, a long thick line of stars swirling across the inky black sky.

"We didn't have stars on Cybertron," he observed.

Sunstreaker shot him a bizarre look, "What are you talking about? Of _course _we had stars on Cybertron!"

Sideswipe didn't look at him, "Not like this. Did you know the humans used to name certain groups of stars after their mythological characters? Like that one over there was called…uh, Orion I think. The three stars there are his belt," he pointed, circling the constellation with his finger.

"Fascinating, they have over-active imaginations."

"Yeah, I know. Like that one there is supposed to be a bear, but I've never seen it myself. They were pretty creative. I guess they thought heroes were put in the stars when they did something really great, like…kill a snake-person or something like that," Sideswipe replied, still examining the night sky.

His brother twisted his lip components, "When did you become such and expert?"

Sideswipe narrowed his optics and shrugged as best he could from his horizontal position, "Dunno, they're just really pretty, you know? I thought it was interesting."

That got him a completely incredulous look, "_You_ found something besides pranks to be _interesting?_"

His twin grinned, "This planet isn't so bad, the atmosphere is perfect for stargazing," he finally sent Sunstreaker a look, "You knew I liked that, didn't you?"

The psychotic half of their bond looked surprised. With a little digging through his mem. banks he recalled that, yes, his brother had always been fascinated by the stars. He didn't understand it himself, it seemed so primitive to be in awe of giant balls of fire and gas, but when had Sideswipe ever made sense?

"So the stars look nice here, how does that make up for _this_?" he waved an irate hand at the mud surrounding them.

Sideswipe laughed slightly, "Because if we weren't stuck in the mud I wouldn't be able to look at the stars," he turned his helm fully to face his brother, "Try it, your armor is already slagged anyways."

"My armor is just fine," Sunstreaker grumped, but after a minute of silence he slowly reclined back so he could see what had interested his brother so.

The sky was alight with the swirling glow of billions of stars, planets, supernovae, galaxies…it was enchanting. Sideswipe was right, Cybertron had never had stars like this, its thin atmosphere, wandering orbit, and location in the universe weren't as perfect as this planet's. It was…pretty. The artist in him, long silent since the war had begun, was in awe, making his hands itch for some paints and a brush. He felt Sideswipe's amusement over their bond, but the red twin remained silent as they sat back and enjoyed the stars.

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_Lizard: Aww....Brotherly bonding! Under the stars! In mud! ;) Sunstreaker hates me, I'm sure._

_I appreciate all feedback *winkwinknudgenudge* and thank everyone for reading!_

_LIZARD OUT_


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